Speech of His Majesty King Abdullah II Address to the Nation Following the Invasion of Iraq

In the name of God, the Compassionate, and the Most Merciful,Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Peace be upon you, God's mercy and blessings,

I sought to talk to you today as the family and supporters who have never disappointed your country or nation. I would like to express to you my pride in you, my trust in your awareness and my keenness to stay in contact with you and to keep you aware of events around us and the challenges that have been imposed on us and that must be faced with utmost awareness and sense of responsibility and that call on us to place our national interest above all interests and considerations.

Since the beginning of the crisis between Iraq and the United Nations, we have worked to resolve this crisis through political means. We used all our relations with influential countries in this world and used every possible means to spare Iraq this war and its catastrophic ramifications. Regrettably, we, the Arab nation and the international community, were unable to avert it.

Now that what we have done what we can to warn against it and to prevent what has occurred, our prime obligation is to preserve the security and stability of our homeland and protect its top interests. This demands, before anything else, to solidify our internal front, protect our national unity and to deal with these circumstances with awareness, a sense of belonging and confidence in our ability to overcome this crisis just as we have overcome more difficult crises in previous decades.

As for the Iraqi people, we are very keen to fulfil our humane and brotherly obligation towards them in accordance with our capabilities and capacities. We will use all possible means to halt this war as soon as possible in order to ease their suffering and help them overcome the ramifications of war and to ensure the territorial integrity and cohesion of Iraq.

Demonstrations of our feelings towards the brotherly Iraqi people must be expressed in a civilised manner that will help to ease the anguish of our brothers, and help them face the conditions of war and its ramifications. Our expression should reflect the true belonging to beloved Jordan.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I know the pain and anger you are feeling because of the suffering and ordeal that the Iraqi people are facing. I am one of you, I share the feelings of every one of you, and my confidence in you and your awareness has no limits. Let us all be one hand, one family, one heart and let us work in the spirit of one team in order to preserve our security and stability, our internal front and to deal with what accompanies such circumstances in terms of rumours and fallacious or inaccurate news.

Each one of us must go to work and to carry out his or her duty in a normal manner. Our homeland needs the effort of every one of us under these circumstances. At this point, I would like to assure all of you that the government and all the departments of the state have taken all necessary measures to face these circumstances and to ensure the continuity of the daily life of all citizens.

In the end, I greet you once again and I greet the companions in our armed forces and our security departments in all positions of work and nation building, honour and devotion.

Peace be upon you, God's mercy, and His blessings.